Form Blazing Sword!

It is no secret that I'm a fan of Sigfied Trent's feat series, having previously enjoyed his work on The Inquisitor & The Witch & The Alchemist. He just fundamentally gets it. There is something refreshing about someone who will talk frankly & honestly about the nuts & bolts of the game-- too often you get condescending platitudes, as those game balance was just, like, an idea man, or you get the veil of secrecy drawn, as though esoteric proprietary data lay behind the Wizard's curtain. This time Trent tackles the Magus from Ultimate Magic, & his signature style of transparency is on display. There is just something nice about being addressed on the level. You can tell me the Magus is an Int-based caster with a bard-like progression & a three-quarters attack bonus & I will know what you are talking about. Of course I will, I'm hip deep in the middle of the game. & hey, thanks for the little side-box pointing out that mithril bucklers exist. I've certainly noticed-- I've used them as a player & given them out at treasure in my Oubliette campaign, but you can keep your nasty, goofy armor spikes, thank you very much. Trent mentions off-hand that it is hard to build feats for the Magus since "Extra Arcana" from Ultimate Magic is such a strong pick. Something to keep in mind, but just as well; like all of the "Advanced Feats" series, most of the content here is applicable to a wide range of characters. I see a lot of Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition influence here, actually-- "Adrenalin Surge" & "Hobbyist" are notable for this-- but the bulk are the usual mix of work-horse feats & very clever pieces of flavor-- "Black Blade Spellbook" & "Spelldrinker" are good examples of the latter. Things like the metamagic feat "Evasive Spell"-- which lets you trade off spell level to not provoke opportunity attacks-- are useful across the board, while things like "Ki Arcana"-- which lets you add a Monk's (or whatever's) Ki pool to the Magus' Arcana pool-- are the sort of seeds you could draft a character around. This hits the high benchmarks of the rest of the series-- first thing anybody playing Pathfinder should do it get the "Advanced Feats" for their class, if you ask me.

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